CDI Holdings · Case Study Library
SFLP & Mission-Directed Work Teams® · Middelbult & Secunda, South Africa
Sasol Mining
Taking Mission-Directed Work Underground — Leadership at the Coalface
Sasol Frontline Leadership Programme (SFLP) · MDW Mini-Business Teams · Bravo Rig · 3E Diesels · Stonework Team · Middelbult & Secunda Colliery
98%
Diesel availability
(from 94%)
(from 94%)
3
Named teams with own
vision, mission & KPIs
vision, mission & KPIs
5S
Applied underground
for the first time
for the first time
4
SFLP leadership
dimensions
dimensions
Context
Leadership at the Coalface — Where Theory Must Become Practice
Sasol Mining operates underground coal mines across Middelbult and Secunda. The Sasol Frontline Leadership Programme (SFLP) was designed to address a gap that most leadership programmes never close: the distance between what is learned in a training room and what happens underground on the next shift. MDW provided the operational framework; SFLP provided the leadership development architecture. Together, they created a programme where learning and practical action were inseparable.
Three named teams — the Bravo Rig directional drilling team, the 3E Diesels workshop, and the Stonework Team at Secunda — each implemented MDW with their own vision, mission, values, and KPI dashboards.
Three named teams — the Bravo Rig directional drilling team, the 3E Diesels workshop, and the Stonework Team at Secunda — each implemented MDW with their own vision, mission, values, and KPI dashboards.
The Challenge
Reactive Culture in a High-Stakes Environment
Safety risks, fragmented leadership, underperforming equipment, and a reactive management culture were the presenting conditions. Cascading business goals to underground frontlines had proven difficult — the gap between boardroom targets and shift-level behaviour was structural. In a high-risk, labour-intensive environment, the cost of that gap is not just operational; it is measured in safety incidents and missed production continuity.
The Approach — Three Teams, One Framework
Decentralising Ownership to Where the Work Happens
1
Bravo Rig — Directional DrillingThe Bravo Rig team built a mini-business around metres drilled per driller and total rig output, tracking performance consistently over twelve months. Systematic shift handovers and inspection logs introduced structure and continuity. Weekly safety meetings formalised as the team’s own safety conversation. 5S applied to underground rigs for the first time.
2
3E Diesels — Middelbult WorkshopThe 3E Diesels team shifted its workshop culture from reactive maintenance to a customer-focused mini-business. Diesel availability improved from 94% to 98% — a 4-point gain significant in a mining environment where every hour of equipment downtime has a direct production consequence. Team values included training, mutual respect, innovation, and integrity.
3
Stonework Team — Secunda CollieryClear productivity and cost-saving targets per shift, with rewards tied to consistent achievement. The team leader mapped personal leadership style and applied SOP-based training. The 5-Whys method applied to address root causes of missed targets, turning missed performance into a learning trigger rather than a blame event.
4
Mini-Business Methodology — Vision, Mission, Values, KPIsEach team developed its own vision, mission, values, and KPI dashboard, measuring outcomes across Quality, Safety, Cost, and Morale. The combination of personal ownership and structured measurement created the accountability loop that connected individual behaviour to team performance and team performance to Sasol’s operational targets.
5
Where Leadership Development and Operational Execution MeetThe most important design decision: the refusal to separate leadership development from operational implementation. SFLP deliberately integrated action learning and best-practice projects into the development journey — so that the leadership behaviours being developed were practised on real teams, with real KPIs, in real underground conditions. Implementation audits closed the loop, ensuring that what was committed to in the classroom was actually happening on shift.
SFLP — Four Dimensions
Core Business Focus — bottom-line impact: connecting leadership behaviour to operational and financial outcomes.
Know Yourself — personal leadership: mapping individual style, strengths, and development areas.
Manage Resources — systems and tools: equipment management, shift handovers, and inspection disciplines.
Lead Individuals & Teams — people development: coaching, delegation, consequence management, and team culture.
Results
Operational Gains and a Stronger Frontline Leadership Culture
98%
Diesel Availability
3E Diesels improved fleet uptime from 94% to 98% — boosting production continuity across the mine and shifting the workshop from reactive maintenance to customer-focused mini-business.
Exceeded
Bravo Rig Output
Metres drilled per driller and total rig output exceeded targets consistently over twelve months — the result of structured handovers, inspection disciplines, and team ownership.
5S
Underground Order
5S implemented underground for the first time — creating ordered and efficient working environments in physically demanding conditions, improving both safety and operational discipline.
Daily
Hazard Identification
Employees demonstrated daily commitment to identifying and reporting risks — a safety culture shift from reactive incident response to proactive hazard management at team level.
Coached
Frontline Leaders
Team leaders learned to coach, delegate, and manage consequences — shifting from operational directors to people developers, with leadership style mapped and applied in practice.
Owned
Team Identity
Mini-business teams with self-authored vision, mission, and values — making the transformation culturally real underground, where identity and pride are not abstract concepts.
“
Leadership development is most effective when paired with real-world implementation — MDW adapts well to high-risk, labour-intensive environments like mining.
Key Lesson · Sasol Mining SFLP & MDW Programme
Key Insight
Sasol Mining demonstrates that MDW® works underground — in a high-risk environment where culture change is not an abstraction but a daily safety decision. The SFLP/MDW integration answers the question every mining client asks: can this be done here? Three named teams, real KPIs, improved diesel availability, and a frontline that identifies hazards daily: yes, it can.
